Recordings
Violette (2025, Shifting Paradigm Records)
Violette, by bassist/composer Ted Olsen, features genre-blurring chamber works performed by a powerhouse ensemble with guests Aby Wolf, Eric Mayson, John Raymond, and Minnesota Orchestra members. Blending jazz, classical, and songcraft, this emotionally rich music marks the peak of Olsen’s creative surge since winning the McKnight Composers Fellowship, inviting both heart and mind into its expressive world.
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"Strikingly ambitious [...] jazz-tinged neo-classical compositions that are genuinely inspired." -UK Vibe
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"Wedding jazz balladry, vocal art song, chamber classical, plaintive folk, and soul into a single encompassing presentation." - Textura
"it's easy to pretend" (2020, self-released)
“it’s easy to pretend” presents a marked blossoming from Olsen's 2017 debut album, Joyfire. Presented here are ambitious compositions, performed by a rhythmically attuned band firing off improvisations at full tilt, and poignant moments befitting an artistically mature ensemble.
"Joyfire" (2017, Shifting Paradigm Records)
“The sprawling yet cohesive songcraft on Ted Olsen's new album, "Joyfire," attests to why he won an American Composers Forum award five years ago and followed it up as a finalist for the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Awards in 2015.” – Minnesota Star Tribune
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“Music surely of the 21st century yet filled with the soulful thrust and energy of classic bebop. Each track has its own momentum, its own distinct story, but the overall mission is the joy of collaborative music-making.”
– Jazzpolice.com